The Buckeyes needed a new set of characters to pull out their most improbable victory of the season. With QB Braxton Miller injured and in a hospital, backup QB Kenny Guiton led OSU on a tying touchdown drive in the final 47 seconds to force overtime, in which running back Carlos Hyde scored the winner.

Wrong turn

Purdue had been pummeled the previous two weeks by Michigan and Wisconsin, but the Buckeyes were behind the eight ball all day against the Boilermakers, who had first-quarter scoring plays of 83 and 100 yards and later knocked out Miller with a hard tackle.

Key moment

With OSU down 22-14, Guiton needed seven plays and 44 seconds to drive the Buckeyes 61 yards. The touchdown pass from 2 yards went to seldom-used Chris Fields, and the tying two-point conversion was on a well-designed and well-executed flip to tight end Jeff Heuerman.

AP rank

Unimpressed again by Ohio State’s performance against a Big Ten weakling, voters dropped the Buckeyes two spots, to No. 9. Unbeaten Oregon State and one-loss Oklahoma leapfrogged the Buckeyes.

Quotable

“I have no idea. I’m still trying to figure this bad boy out. We won, right?” — coach Urban Meyer, asked to describe the swing of emotions of seeing near-certain defeat morph into victory